Alternative tumbling media?

[sig-man]

Blast Media by ECONOLINE - Pneumatic Blasting Media at Zoro

I noticed two different sizes. 14 to 20 grit, or 20 to 40 grit. I am assuming the finer grit is better?

 

[jcwit]

The finer grit, 20-40 Will NOT clog up your cases in any way, and will clean/polish them up just the same.

Note my post #13.

 

[87iroc]

#3

Stuff I bought was actually bird bedding...but whatever. same stuff I'm sure.

Nu Finish as well. All I've used.

Disclaimer: My knowledge extens from April of this year to today...as that's when I started reloading

 

[87iroc]

Cheap walnut media:
Zilla 11678 Ground English Walnut Shells Desert Blend, 10-Quart Bag:Amazon:Pet Supplies

I got about the same size bag for the same price at Petco...

Not sure if 10 qt=7 lbs or not.

 

[Gluemanz28]

I was using the Lyman tufnut for over a year and cleaned about 10,000 cases with it in a 1200 turbo with drain plug. My buddy brought over his Dillon jumbo tumbler. It will clean about 2000 9mm cases at once. We bought a box of the fine media from harbor freight and added the nu-finish as stated above. We tumble for about three hours and the brass looks pretty good. When I run the HF media tumbled brass in my dillon 650 it sticks on the resizing die and kinda sucks when you are running 1,000 rounds in about two hours. I read where some are using a little case lube even on pistol brass. I added the Hornady one shot lube and things went smoothly again.

Is anbody else noticing this? I also get a lot of dust from the HF media as it gets transfered to the RCBS media separator. I have tried willowing it outside in the wind but I feel as though I'm spending more time fooling around with cheap media then just biting the bullet (pun intended) and go with a good media like tufnut for about $2 a pound shipped with Amazon Prime.

 

[JRPLANE]

I found that depriming and then throwing 300-400 in an old pillow case and putting them in the washer with a couple old car washing towels. Just do them like a load od laundry, soap and all. Them come out beautiful. When done throw in dryer, dry all together. They are not shiny, they look like new cases. If you want shine tumble, it doesn't take long because they are clean. This is much faster that tumbling till clean.

 

[jcwit]

Ya, I really want to contaminate my washer & dryer with lead residue, then wash my family cloths in the contaminated appliances. Really smart thinking.

 

[jcwit]

I was using the Lyman tufnut for over a year and cleaned about 10,000 cases with it in a 1200 turbo with drain plug. My buddy brought over his Dillon jumbo tumbler. It will clean about 2000 9mm cases at once. We bought a box of the fine media from harbor freight and added the nu-finish as stated above. We tumble for about three hours and the brass looks pretty good. When I run the HF media tumbled brass in my dillon 650 it sticks on the resizing die and kinda sucks when you are running 1,000 rounds in about two hours. I read where some are using a little case lube even on pistol brass. I added the Hornady one shot lube and things went smoothly again.

Is anbody else noticing this? I also get a lot of dust from the HF media as it gets transfered to the RCBS media separator. I have tried willowing it outside in the wind but I feel as though I'm spending more time fooling around with cheap media then just biting the bullet (pun intended) and go with a good media like tufnut for about $2 a pound shipped with Amazon Prime.

Just go to Grainger out on South Nappanee Street, Indiana 19, on the East Side of the road and order a bag of 20/40 Corn Cob Media. All your media problems will be over. Add a capful of auto cleaner polish as I suggested earlier, if you have dust, also add a teaspoon of paint thinner to the media. To keep the media clean cut/tear up strips of USED dryer sheets and add them also to the tumbler, the dirt will adhere to the dryer sheet. DO NOT use new sheets.

 

[Gluemanz28]

Just go to Grainger out on South Nappanee Street, Indiana 19, on the East Side of the road and order a bag of 20/40 Corn Cob Media. All your media problems will be over. Add a capful of auto cleaner polish as I suggested earlier, if you have dust, also add a teaspoon of paint thinner to the media. To keep the media clean cut/tear up strips of USED dryer sheets and add them also to the tumbler, the dirt will adhere to the dryer sheet. DO NOT use new sheets.

I have tried the corncob. I got a bag with my tumbler and it took about twice as long to get the same results as the walnut. I didn't add any polish to it though, so maybe I will get the bag back out and add some polish to it and see what happens.

Are you using a progressive or single stage press?

 

[jcwit]

Turn it on when you go to bed and let it run, been doing it that way for decades.

 

[Erich]

I use the cheapest grade rice I can find. It cleans (does not polish) and leaves behind a fine starch dust residue that I've found acts as a case lube.

 

[jcwit]

I use the cheapest grade rice I can find. It cleans (does not polish) and leaves behind a fine starch dust residue that I've found acts as a case lube.

And I'll bet it gets stuck in the flash holes like crazy, ask me how I know from 10/12 years ago experience.

 

[BeDome]

Ya, I really want to contaminate my washer & dryer with lead residue, then wash my family cloths in the contaminated appliances. Really smart thinking.

Not enough rinse cycles the planet can offer to make me comfortable either.

Along the same lines of thinking, how about trying that idea in a dedicated old washer left over from a household upgrade or something. An old washer that you just wash the dirtiest of car rags and sometimes tumble some cases and such.

Not such a bad idea, just keep the family safe first.

 

[BeDome]

Car/auto polish as in cleaner wax/polish, think Kit car wax, http://www.meguiars.com/en/automotive/products/g18211-ultimate-wax-paste/
liquid or paste or somewhat the same from other manufactures.

As I stated earlier in post #13 it contains a wax/poly that coats the brass and prevents tarnish. Straight polish/rubbing compound will not do this.

As far as the H/F walnut, it costs a dollar a lb. plus gas to get it.

Corn Cob cost less than a dollar a lb., can be shipped to your door for free, and one gets much more media per lb.

Do not mean to pick on you specifically by replying twice, but you and I seem to be on a couple similar pages as you are trying your best to help me.

Anyway, I have a huge bag of walnut bird/reptile litter media, as I mentioned.

I work next door to a major pet supply place, which I will not prop here with a specific mention, but/however/therefore/ so there is NO massive trauma for me involving driving to some remote location to find this walnut shell based product. I have been using it for as long as I can remember, mainly because a coffee can full lasts for ages and ages.
(Yes, I double, triple check my brass before I prime, etc. Reckoning with blocked primer pockets has never been a problem.)


Upon some earlier recommendations, I decided to run a simple series of, mostly non-scientific, tests.

I took some (probably around 100 or more in each double handful) skanky, unprocessed range picked up brass, that had already been sitting around too long. I have nearly seven 5 gal buckets full of brass that I have to sort, etc. Perfect for this test.

SO, I went with brand new media, tumbled for four hours. This was my non - scientific control batch. Not really much more than clean, but ok to load. Seemed fine.

Then, another fresh new coffee can (Not sure how to say it, but I use those plastic Folger's coffee containers for all manner of living; recycling the old fashion way - we use and re-use things over and over!) full of just plain walnut shell media, but this time I added one tablespoon of the automotive chrome polish I mentioned before. Added another double handful of the same skanky, rained on brass like before. I achieved the same results I had always expected. Nice, clean, shiny brass, inside and out.

Now, a fresh can full of the same media, only this time I added a tablespoon of a forgotten twenty year old can of product that had seriously been there on my garage shelf almost forever, BUT it was called "CAR POLISH" on the label, as recommended by my friends here. The old tarnished, uglier than butt brass went directly into my tumbler and, whadyaknow?
It came out as shiny as if a jeweler had just come to town.

That batch of ugly/old /picked up off a number of ranges, brass was as shiny as any factory product I have seen.

So, YEAH! something like a car polish can really make your brass shiny!

Not to put too fine a point on this whole shiny thing, but now that I see what can happen, I plan to re-tumble basically all of the brass I have ready to load.
Shiny is nice, indeed.

On another note, that same brass I had tumbled before, using the chrome polish became just as shiny in about twenty minutes time after being exposed to the car polish media. (Yup, that was the non-scientific part)

Thank you for your guidance.

 

[jcwit]

There you go!

 

[Erich]

And I'll bet it gets stuck in the flash holes like crazy, ask me how I know from 10/12 years ago experience.

I deprime after I tumble.

 

[jcwit]

I don't, I deprime, then size, then tumble, then store, usually after I sort. But then I have boxes upon boxes of cases.

I use the tumbler to also clean the primer pocket.

I tried the rice route years and years ago, then I tried media that was actually ment for use in a tumbler.

 

[jrogers88]

I've been doing the washer trick for several years without any issues. I do small batches in tube socks. Just make sure to wrap in a few socks so they don't wear through and get scattered throughout the washer.

 

[jcwit]

I've been doing the washer trick for several years without any issues. I do small batches in tube socks. Just make sure to wrap in a few socks so they don't wear through and get scattered throughout the washer.

So tell us this, when was the last time you had your washer tested for lead compound residues?

When was the last time you took your whole family in for heavy metal blood tests?

Washer tricks with the family washer is not a smart trick. But then it is your family.

 

[N8RV]

So tell us this, when was the last time you had your washer tested for lead compound residues?

When was the last time you took your whole family in for heavy metal blood tests?

Washer tricks with the family washer is not a smart trick. But then it is your family.

That's why God made laudromats.